Romain Grosjean has revealed that settings carried over from last year’s Lotus Formula 1 car have held the team’s new machine back in the early part of the 2014 season.

Lotus has suffered a disastrous start to 2014, after being in contention to finish third in the constructors’ championship until the final race of last year.

Its twin tusk E22 was unreliable and off the pace across the first three races, but showed signs of improvement at the most recent grand prix in China, as Grosjean ran inside the top 10 before a gearbox problem forced him out after half-distance.